Wando angling club boosts Shem Creek aquatic life by building oyster reef

By Tyler Heffernan

theffernan@moultrienews.com

Thursday, May 9, 2013

The Wando angling club and several volunteers helped build a reef off Shem Creek, April 30. PHOTOS PROVIDED

By the Numbers

250 - Approximate number of recycled oyster shell bushels1 – Dumptruck load needed to transport bushels65 – Wando participating students350 - Amount of shell bags constructed on March 21150 - Average amount of oysters per bag after matured3 – Years it takes for oysters to mature in water52,500 - Amount of matured oysters living in shell bags 2.5 - Gallons of water capable to be filtered by each oyster per hour131,250 - Gallons of water capable to be filtered by oysters in Wando's bags after three years

Source: SCDNR

Photos

Photo

It was a team effort, starting with the bagging of oyster shells at Wando in March.

Photo

Oysters can filter 2.5 gallons of water per hour.

The Wando High School angling club looked outside its college-sized campus in Mount Pleasant and helped do something bigger than themselves.

On April 30, eight Wando anglers, two club sponsors, three members of the Department of Natural Resources and three other community members placed a reef off Shem Creek made up of 214 large bags of recycled oyster shells.

“When I agreed to sponsor the angling club a year and a half ago, I told the students that the only way that I would do so was if they agreed to have some sort of community service associated with the club,” Nancy Platt said. Her husband, Gordon, is the other sponsor of the club. “They agreed, and we partnered up with Coastal Conservation Association and started gathering shucked shells at the local oyster roasts.”

Last year, the Wando angling club went to Bear's Bluff to visit a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services hatchery and students built a reef there. They also participate in a year-long trout fin clipping program for USFWS, according to Platt.

Prior to building at Shem Creek, the group held an oyster shell bagging at school ponds on March 21 to gather enough material for the reef.

“The reefs are so beneficial to our coastal communities; they promote the growth of and provide niches for all sorts of plants and animals as well as oysters themselves – gotta' love that,” she said. “This Wando reef will be something that all the kids can fish and eventually take their kids to fish.”

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